The disclosure of Japanese Patent Application No. 11-338903 filed on Nov. 30, 1999 including the specification, drawings and abstract is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
The present invention relates to an apparatus which is mounted in a vehicle and comprises a door having an open position and a closed position.
One example of an apparatus mounted in a vehicle and comprising a door having an open position and a closed position is shown in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 8-282391. In this case, the apparatus is a television further having an audio unit. An outside face of a panel holds the television display unit. When a door that includes the panel is closed, the display unit shows moving pictures by receiving airwaves. On the other hand, the apparatus is used as an audio unit by driving a CD player or a cassette player, after the door is open and a CD or a cassette is inserted into the audio unit.
However, a clearance between the door and other parts may increase, and an undesirable gap may appear between the door and other parts because of vibrations, when the door is open and the vehicle is running. That is, the door of the apparatus is vulnerable to driving of the vehicle.
It is thus one object of the present invention to solve the aforementioned problems. An object of the invention is to prevent a door contained in an apparatus with the door mounted in a vehicle from opening when the vehicle is running. Another object is to have a high durability of the apparatus.
An apparatus mounted in a vehicle comprises a door, a door detecting means, a driving detecting means, and a door control means. The door has an open position and a closed position. The door detecting means detects a condition of the door. The driving detecting means detects a driving condition of the vehicle. A door control means controls the door in response to the condition of the door when the driving detecting means detects that the vehicle is running.
Since the door control means controls the door of the apparatus in response to the condition of the door when the driving detecting means detects that the vehicle is running, the apparatus can keep the door under a condition appropriate to the driving condition of the vehicle.
It is also available that the apparatus further comprises a door driving means for moving the door from the open position to the closed position and the door control means controls the door driving means to close the door when the door is open and the vehicle is running.
Since the door in the apparatus is closed when the door is open and the vehicle is running, an increase in the clearance between the door and other parts caused by vibrations of the apparatus during driving can be avoided and a durability of the apparatus is high.